Monday, 30 November 2009

The Zombie Shelter Contest is now closed. We are sorting through submissions - and arguing about whether to get our authors in as guest judges - and will post the results on Friday.

Many thanks to those of you who sent in submissions, and our commiserations to those of you who meant to but didn't get around to it. Although, actually, not too many commiserations. You should have got yourselves sorted out. Sheesh.

Thursday, 26 November 2009

...although since it's a zombie contest, I suppose it could shamble on after we kill it?

Never mind.

Tomorrow is the last day of Abaddon's Zombie Shelter Competition. We've had some very cool submissions, and we're well looking forward to judging them, but submissions aren't closed yet! Be sure and send in your zombie shelter by the end of tomorrow (Friday 27th November) to be considered.

Erm... I can't be bothered working out an actual time deadline, in GMT, EDT, CET and whatever else. Tell you what: we're not even going to start judging them until Monday, so if it's in the inbox when I get in Monday morning, that's good enough for me.

Never ones to miss an opportunity to embarrass our talented creators, Abaddon Books would like to present you with this video of Abaddon author and 2000 AD writer Al Ewing joining a boyband, along with fellow comic book types Kieron Gillen,* Michael Molcher and Matt Sheret. Watch to the end for the Take That impression:-

Friday, 20 November 2009

There's a week left to our Zombie Shelter contest. We've had some fine entries so far, but it's far from a done deal; get your submissions in to abaddonbooks@gmail.com and you could win some of our acclaimed Tomes of the Dead books!

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Inspired by my throw-away comment, "What does it say about what I do for a living that I right-click an email and read 'Mark as undead'?", Alexander Allan (or the steampunk-obsessed stick-figure sketcher CapnAlex online) created this doodle. I thought I'd share it with you.

Friday, 13 November 2009

Everyone knows it’s coming. You just gotta see the signs. And I see you all preparing – maybe getting some training in with simulations like L4D or House of the Dead, maybe going to see instructive films like 28 Days Later or Zombieland – but how ready are you, really? When the Zs start clawing at your door, what are you going to do? How will you fight them? Where will you take shelter?

With an eye to getting you all ready for the (sadly inevitable) Zombipocalypse, Abaddon is running a competition! We want you to tell us about your zombie-proof shelter. Where is it? How is it protected? Upper stories (good vision, shoot from the balcony) or underground (more secure, more energy-efficient)? Locked down or escape routes? Well-water or bottled? What do you look for in a zombie shelter? It doesn’t have to be a real place (although a friend of mine swears he’s heading straight to Reading Gaol) or at any rate your place (honestly, if you write to us and tell us that you for real have a gun-and-tinned-food-stocked bunker in the suburbs, we may be obliged to inform your psychiatrist...), just the sort of place you’d go when the eatin’ starts.

You have 100 words. Tell us why your hideout’s awesome, not just what it is. Convince us. And make us laugh. All submissions to abaddonbooks@gmail.com by November 27th; winner announced December 4th, and we’ll post the best three reports here. The prize is copies of a couple of our Tomes of the Deadbooks, to further prepare you for the days to come.

He'll be promoting his new Hellraiser-inspired anthology, Hellbound Hearts, (this is him signing books at the HBH release in San Jose on Hallowe'en) but should be up for signing copies of his other books and talking about his work in general.

(And for a sneak peek at the opening chapter of the third Kali Hooper book, Twilight of Kerberos: Engines of the Apocalypse, pick up Twilight of Kerberos: Night's Haunting, out soon; we've given you a sneak preview in the back.)